Echoes of Skystone
by EPICBEAR
Summary: A lone Ferric Warrior struggles to survive in Etherea after the Skystone's violent Explosion.
1. Introduction to Etherea

Echoes of Skystone

The mysterious Skystone was the center of folklore for the land of Etherea. Some say it was grappled out of the sky, while others say it was grown by the gods. These tales were the basis of society.

Etherea was divided into 3 parts: Steamport City, Hatchwood Wilds, and Ridgeback Highlands.

Humans gradually took over the lands, and formed 3 separate clans.

Steamport City was built by the Aeronauts, a clan using steam-powered jet packs to soar high above the ground. The Ferrics, a tribal clan, created multiple camps in the Hatchwood Wilds. The Wilds suited the Ferrics, for they could climb up the trees with ease, and use them as vantage points.

The Ridgeback Highlands were claimed by the Crags, a clan of humans that swung through the air with metal grappling hooks and cables. They built tramways to travel between summits and valleys quickly, as Ridgeback was the largest and most mountainous region of all.

Our story follows a Ferric Warrior In the heart of the Hatchwood Wilds. Dark times are about to hit Etherea, and this Ferric Warrior will have to struggle to survive. His world will change completely, and he will look upon his darkened planet with fire in his eyes.


	2. The Legendary Skystone

I stared up at the massive forests canopy. Its great trees swayed gently back and forth in the summer breeze. I reached out and caught a leaf as it fell from a large sycamore. I enjoyed standing as the sentry outside camp. It allowed me to relax and watch the leaves flutter softly to the ground. Nothing ever attacked us inside Hatchwood. We were safe here.

I was very wrong. As I awoke from my slumber the next morning, I could tell something was not right. People were staring in silence at the great Skystone. It was moving, ever so slightly, but moving. A very low rumbling sound could be heard coming from the legendary rock. The Skystone gave a jolt, and a sound like a hundred claps of thunder filled the camp. A roost of ferron birds screamed and shot out of a nearby oak. "Whats going on?" I asked a man. "We don't know, but it can't be good." he replied in a whisper. The Skystone shook again, and several children started crying loudly.

This continued for the rest of the day, with the noises getting progressively louder. At nightfall the worshiped Skystone cracked. It started as a small crack, running down the smooth face of the rock. The crack grew into a small fissure, which spread like an epidemic throughout the whole stone. After a half hour of fracturing, a tremendous explosion shook the air around us.

The Skystone had exploded! We stared in awe as a pillar of purple gas rose from its shattered remains. The gas swirled about in the air before slowly descending onto Etherea. Our camp was in pandemonium. "Run!" I heard someone scream. The gas had just appeared over our horizon, and we were trampling each other trying to get away. I dove into the food shelter as a confused boar charged through the camp. Someone fell on the food shelter door, slamming it shut and knocking me unconscious.

When I awoke, I tried pushing on the doors to get them open, but there was something heavy on the other side. I stabbed my right ferron beak through the wooden door, and ripped it apart with my left. What I saw was a scene of absolute horror. Bodies were strewn everywhere, and a thin layer of purple gas was settled over the ground like water. It was hard to breathe, as if I had walked into an ash cloud. I called out, but nobody answered. I ran to the sycamore that had dropped its leaf and started to climb, digging ferron beak after ferron beak into the thick bark. When I reached the top, I looked out over Etherea. The purple gas was everywhere, covering the tallest mountains in Ridgeback to the smallest building in Steamport City. I climbed back down to my ruined camp. I knew other camps existed not far from mine, so I decided to find them. Grabbing a few Sweet Makopas and bunches of Huckleberries, I set out to find other survivors.


	3. Mimics

As I left my ruined camp behind, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret for all the dead Ferrics I was leaving behind. As I left through the crumpled gate, I felt a wave of nausea as I saw a man impaled on a piece of sharp timber. He stared ahead with a horrified expression on his face with eyes that did not see. I walked over to him and gently shut his eyes. After that, I turned around and left, leaving my camp behind, and stepping into the great Hatchwood Wilds. I walked for miles, following a map I had received when I was a small boy. It showed all of the camps in the forest, and the known hazards to avoid like cliffs, ditches, and even a known viper nest. I eventually had to rest, so I climbed up a redwood and perched on one of its branches like a ferron bird, avoiding the choking gas below. I pulled out a sweet makopa and ate it greedily, watching the gas swirl about on the ground. After an hour, I jumped down from my perch, and continued my trek through the ruined world. My destination was Camp Calluna, the biggest camp in Hatchwood. I figured that if the camp was so big, there were bound to be some survivors.

I walked for four days, resting in trees every night, before I reached the grand gates of Camp Calluna. As I approached the massive doors, I heard several screams issue from inside the fortress. Following my ferric instincts, I began to climb the wooden wall of the camp. This wood was hard, made of dried oak from the surrounding forest. I had difficulty digging my beaks into the wall, but I finally managed to reach the top. I perched on top of it and looked down upon the camp. What I saw scared the life out of me. Several Calluans (or warriors of Camp Calluna) were attacking a horrible looking creature that slightly resembled a normal wild boar. It had flaming purple eyes that glowed with rage, and a shaggy back with tumors sticking out of it like extra eyes. Its major difference from a boar though were its 6 legs protruding from its underside. Boars were not supposed to have six legs. It charged a Calluan, knocking him to the ground, and I followed my ferric instincts once again. I shouted a war cry and jumped from my perch, beaks straight above my head as I dived. I hit the creature in the middle of its tumor-infested back, driving it to the ground. As I held it pinned to the forest floor, the Calluans stabbed it repeatedly until it screamed in agony, and then died.

"What in Etherea was that?" I yelled at the nearest warrior. "A mutated creature." he replied quietly. "Mutated? How was it mutated?" I asked. "I assume you have noticed this gas that makes it hard to breathe." he said. "What about it?" "It changes our forest creatures into hideous beings." he answered. "We call them mimics, because they are very similar to their original forms, yet mere mockery of the true creatures. The mimics are parasites that travel through the gas, and enter the animals as they breathe. They take over and change their form. That one was called a Hexaboar."

"How do you know all of this? The Skystone exploded just five days ago!" I said. "Camp Calluna has been under siege by the mimics for a long time. They first started attacking several hours after the explosion. We have had time to observe them, and then name them based on their appearance."

"How come I didn't encounter any mimics on the way to Camp?" I asked. "Because Camp Calluna is further north than your camp. We received the worst of the explosion and gas, because we were the closest to the Skystone. The mimics formed here because the gas never made it that far without dissipating slightly. It takes a lot of gas to turn a creature into a mimic." replied the Calluan. "What is your name, by the way?" "Hawthorn." I replied. "Thank you for the help with the Hexaboar. I'm Ashwood by the way."


	4. The Poison Quilltoad

Ashwood took me on a tour of Camp Calluna, explaining things about mimics as we went. After a half hour of walking, we arrived at the Calluan armory, a large building with a domed top. Constructed purely of willow, It was able to bend into shapes like a hemisphere. Ashwood took me inside the curved building, and told me to equip myself with whatever I wanted. I picked up a traditional Calluan helmet: a carved ferron bird skull with a metal beak. It fit me perfectly, so I put it on. I moved on to the arsenal, where a massive array of beaks glinted in the afternoon sun. I picked up a heavy, sharp pair, but decided they would slow down my climbing too much. After a while, I found a pair I liked. They were sunrise orange, with small silver mirrors along their face. Several sharp spikes stuck out of their sides, and they were reinforced with steel for extra power. The pair was extraordinarily light, so I thought they wouldn't slow me down at all. I took them from the wall and swapped them with my old, dull beaks. I punched a wall with them, and it cracked, spilling several Calluan helmets onto the wooden floor. Ashwood and I left the armory, only to find a massive mimic with hideous spines running down its back. It looked like a gigantic toad, only it had the same blazing eyes as the Hexaboar.

The mimic looked at us intently before lowering its head to the ground. "DUCK!" shouted Ashwood. I ducked just in time to see a two foot long spike shoot over my head. It struck the fractured wall behind me, destroying it completely. Ashwood and I leapt into the air in unison, raining blow after blow on the mimics scaled skin. Our attacks had no effect on it, and I rolled to the side just in time to see another deadly spike rocket past the place where my head had just been. As we dodged the monsters attacks, more mimics appeared behind it. They were much smaller than the toad, barely a foot tall each. They had red and orange patterns on their backs. As I dodged another spike, one charged at me, its tiny legs scuttling over the floor. I leapt over it, only to get struck in the shoulder by a spike. It hit the tip of my shoulder, making me cry out in pain and shock. I collapsed against a wall, trying to fight the searing sensation. I moved to the side as one of the small mimics charged again. It tried to turn to charge, but it hit the wall, and with a deafening explosion, destroyed it, setting the armory on fire. I ran from a charging mimic only to slam into the enormous toad. I rolled to the opposite wall as the small mimic hit the toad, and both were vaporized in the collision. Ashwood grabbed a small mimic with his beaks and threw it out of the armory, where it exploded on the forest floor.

"We need to get you anti-venom, and fast." shouted Ashwood in a worried tone. "Why?" I croaked in a weak voice. "Because that was a Poison Quilltoad, and its venom kills within minutes." he answered. He dragged me into a small building with leather curtains, and led me to a table, where he forced me into a seat. I could vaguely hear him rummaging through the cabinets, and eventually felt something that tasted of sweet makopa trickling down my throat.

I woke up a while later in an unfamiliar room. "Ashwood!" I cried out. "I'm right here, Hawthorn." he replied. "What happened?" I asked shakily. " You were almost killed by Quilltoad venom. I had to force Acid Phosphate down your throat to keep you alive. Its OK now. You're safe."


	5. The Ruins of Camp Calluna

"How did you have the right anti-venom?" I asked Ashwood. "Because Camp Calluna had a bad infestation of poisonous frogs once, and we kept the anti-venom we developed in case it happened again. That was long before the Skystone exploded though, so we weren't sure if it would work on these mimics. Luckily it did." replied Ashwood."What would have happened if you didn't give me the anti-venom?" I asked. "You would have died slowly and painfully, but before you died, you would slowly transform into a Quilltoad. The mimic parasite is transmittable, so make sure you aren't bitten, clawed, stung, or stabbed by any of them. If you are infected by the parasite though, you should cut the part of your body where you were attacked with a ferron beak, and squeeze out the blood there. Hopefully the parasite will come out with the blood." He replied. " So the anti-venom cancels out the venom and mutation?" "Correct, but we do not have an infinite supply of it, so try not to be bitten. Remember, this anti-venom, called acid phosphate, was developed to stop the venom of frogs, not giant mimics." he answered. "What were the smaller mimics that appeared behind the Quilltoad?" I asked. "Those were Embermites, filled with flammable gas so they explode upon impact." replied Ashwood.

"How do you kill them?" I asked. "By throwing something at them, letting them charge into a wall, or grabbing them by the legs and throwing them. They destroy anything they hit." Ashwood led me out of the small hut and into the night air. Several Calluans were gathered at the gate of Camp Calluna, staring out over the forest. Several trees were burning, set on fire by Embermites. A large redwood cracked and fell over, knocking down several smaller trees. The fire spread throughout the forest, engulfing the trees as it went. Ashwood told me to grab a wooden bucket, so I did. I filled it with water and threw it over the side of the camp, making the climbing flames evaporate into steam.

Soon, Camp Calluna was burning, and hundreds of mimics stormed through the weak, charred gates. I slashed a short, furry mimic in half with a beak, and it combusted, leaving small particles the size of acorns behind. Several mutated ferron birds dove, hooked beaks gaping, waiting for the taste of human flesh. I cut some to pieces, stabbed another down the throat, and kicked one out of the air, but it was no use. More mimics kept coming, and there was no way ten Calluan warriors and I were going to destroy hundreds of mimics. A shrill Cry echoed around the flaming camp. A massive ferron bird, easily 50 times the size of a normal one swooped down upon the camp. All Ferrics had grown up listening to the stories of Great Ferron, the sky god. I had never believed them, but here it was, charging towards me, with the same blaze in its eye as the Quilltoad and Hexaboar. I ran as fast as I could, leaping over things like the Calluans, running for my life. Great Ferron spewed a fireball out of its mouth, and it shot through the air, moving straight towards me. I dove to the side, but was met face to face with an Embermite. It ran at me, and as it was about to hit me, I grabbed it by the legs and threw it at the monstrous bird. They collided, and exploded, sending a plume of fire into the night air. I was knocked backwards by the force of the explosion, and as I tried to regain my footing, I was impaled through the back by a Hexaboar. I screamed in agony, and tried to pull out the murderous tusks, but I was too weak. I was pulled into the mimics open mouth, and destroyed by its gnashing teeth.

Camp Calluna was in ruins, dead bodies of humans and mimics alike thrown everywhere. Hatchwood was alive with flames, and every human in camp was killed eventually by the mimics. The first area of Etherea was claimed by the mimics, and more were appearing everywhere.

**End of Book 1**


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